When I hit a huge wall of rain driving through the hills of southern Oklahoma, and then again from Sanger, south . . . I was sure tonight’s soccer game would be cancelled. But, no. I got home just in time to turn around and go out with Kyle to watch his team (and him!) play on a very soggy field. It was good to be there, and the weather was rather delightful—not too hot, and toward the end, a light drizzle. And afterwards—a quick trip to No Frills Grill with Brett and Jill, where our waiter apparently missed me so much, he bought my beer! (Actually, I think he felt bad, ’cause I didn’t like the red thing that Kyle suggested he bring for me. Still not sure what it was . . . kinda like a mai tai, only not as good. I know they told me what it was called, but I was too tired to remember it. Kyle drank it—I guess it has become his favourite summertime refresher . . .)

Sundays that I don’t have to be at a faire are a rare and beautiful thing. When they happen the day after lots of activity, they’re even better! My body didn’t let me sleep in, but I sure took my time repacking the trailer and doing some email catch-up. I worked on a beading project for a while, and enjoyed spending some quality time with my beautiful niece. (She’s learning to do a headstand, and her daddy and I are both still pretty good at that, so we are good teachers!) I accompanied the family to church in the evening, and we all went out to “border” Mexican food afterwards—not too bad, for Kansas, I might add!

It’s been a good little visit, here. Tomorrow, I’m homeward bound.

I managed to get out of the house tonight without my camera. Should have photos of the beautiful church, the memorial garden where Heather is remembered, the enormous hawk that swooped down next to us as we ran through an ATM, and enchiladas from a new place. But, no. Just the cute cat. She’s not accustomed to wide expanses of carpeting since we have tile at home, so, this seemed to be a treat for her.

For the first time ever, my featured photo today is one that I did not actually shoot myself. Of course, that’s evident since I’m in the photo, and the camera is obviously a few feet away. It is my camera, hence my posession of the image, but the photo was taken by Kelly. She surprised me with a phone call while we were driving to faire, telling me her aunt wanted to go to the faire, and that they would see us there! So, I got to meet her charming aunt, and even got to see Kelly answer to her nickname! And, I got this fun photo of myself with my family!

You can see in the photo that it was a damp, cool day. The rain began to fall lightly just as we were leaving home to head to faire. I was annoyed at first, but it only took a couple of minutes for me to decide that if I was less than positive about the whole day, the other three would certainly take cues from me. And I wanted everyone to have fun, so I thumbed my nose at the drizzle, and adjusted my attitude. After all, I have always loved attending faire in the rain, and if I could convince them that this was fun, they’d be okay with it, too! And, in their defense, never once did anyone mention that the rain might change their willingness to go and do and play. My brother had gone to the trouble to take the day off from work, so we could all do this together. He and Melanie had decided they wanted to dress up to go, since McKenna and I would be dressed up. We’d been talking all morning about having ham and cheese crepes for breakfast. A little rain would not squelch our fun!

William had rounded up five cans of food, to donate to the food drive at the gate. The special deal this weekend was two-for-one tickets with the donation of five cans! So, he paid for one ticket, and I got McKenna and myself in through the media gate, and we were off for crepes!

We made it a point to watch most of a Queen’s Gambit show, as they are dear friends, and I remembered that McKenna had enjoyed their show last year. From there, we began our walk-about, in and out of shoppes, and stopping to see another show McKenna enjoys: Bob, the Juggler. Not sure, really, if his act has another name, but I don’t think so. We shared a baked potato for lunch—it was huge! We introduced Melanie to the wonders of hard cider! We found a beautiful booth full of hanging “stained glass” globe-shaped ornaments and made a purchase, there. We had our photos made at the photo booth. I got to visit with a number of friends, introducing them to my family, and that was super cool. We saw Trina and John, Kathel, Yolanda—but somehow never found Karen’s henna booth. I get so turned around and confused at the Kansas City Faire—all the lanes are winding, and hilly, and I know there are zones I totally missed.

I did take photos, and here are some of them: McKenna, William and Melanie as we were leaving the house; my brother being goofy; McKenna being amused at her daddy; the three of them watching a show. If it hadn’t been raining, I know I would have taken a bunch more photos, but as it was, the camera needed to stay under cover most of the time. (Sadly, I did not get a really wonderful photo of McKenna in her new dress I just made for her. I am confident that she loved it, though. I wanted her to feel like a princess, and I think I succeeded in that!) Fortunately, the KC faire site is quite wooded, and that kept the soggy factor to a minimum. There were times when we really didn’t get wet, even though we could hear the rain. By about five-thirty or so, we were getting tired, and actually . . . getting a bit cold. So, we made our way back to the crepe booth for a fruity dessert, and then called it a day. Tired, chilly, and . . . happy!

We went home and changed clothes and went back out to dinner—Asian food. Back home again, we watched part of a movie, and were all tired long before we expected to be! Walking around a Renaissance Faire as a patron is hard work! But, it was work I wouldn’t have traded for the world. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m pretty sure William and Melanie were mostly humouring me, but I think they had some fun. And the day was more special for me, than they could ever really know.

So, Kiddo . . . just in case you actually read this (now that I know you sometimes do that!) . . . thank you.